Case Study Jane Roberts Public
Safety Officer Department
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Case
Study Jane Roberts Public Safety Officer Department
The Astonville Police Department has 166
sworn officers who are also certified as firefighters. Twelve years ago, the
Astonville city council adopted a proposal to combine traditional fire and
police personnel into one public safety unit. The measure was intended to
reduce costs and make more efficient use of manpower. As it turned out, neither
traditional police officers nor traditional firefighters liked the idea. While
it did save money during the first few years, costs associated with the public
safety officer (PSO) program have continued to rise. For one thing, turnover is
very high. The city is always trying to fill positions in the PSO program. New
recruits obtain training as police officers and then obtain training as
firefighters. Once certified, they can apply for traditional police or
firefighting positions elsewhere in the state, often making considerably more
money than with Astonville. In an effort to keep officers from taking other
jobs in nearby cities, the administration encouraged supervisors to be “easy”
on discipline and to give officers under their supervision some leeway. As a
result, officers are “allowed” to take extra time on breaks, take classes at
the local university during their shift, and even take time out of their shift
to go to special functions at their children’s schools and such. “As long as
the calls are answered promptly, let them have a break if nothing is going on,”
supervisors were told by the managers.
Crime
Astonville enjoys a low crime rate. It is
located in a suburban area 20 miles from a metropolitan city. There were two
homicides last year, both domestic in nature. Four rapes were reported, all
involving juvenile girls with adult perpetrators. Fourteen felonious assaults
and two robberies were the total of crimes against persons last year. Property
crimes were up from the previous year, particularly residential burglary.
Several new, high-income housing projects were developed in Astonville, which
seems to have attracted burglars to the area.
Community
Astonville had a population of 84,000 at the
last census. However, the city has been growing steadily for the past several
years. Due to its convenient location to the metropolitan area and its low
property tax rates, Astonville has become popular with younger professionals
working in the metropolitan area. The result has been an increase in the number
of subdivisions with high-income housing.
Astonville has a shopping mall and several
specialty shopping centers. The downtown area hosts specialty shops and
restaurants that are popular with the younger professionals that have recently
moved to the city. There are seven public schools and three Christian schools.
The Christian schools are also popular with the younger professional residents.
There is one hospital and also several private clinics. The largest and most
visible institution in Astonville is the state university, which normally has
about 12,000 students. The state university has a criminal justice program, and
the city frequently tries to recruit new graduates from that program into the
Astonville Public Safety Bureau.
Officer
Public Safety Officer Jane Roberts has just
fulfilled her six-month probationary period with the Astonville PSO Bureau. She
was in the top 10 percent of her graduating class from both the police academy
and the fire training academy. She is attractive, single, and young. She is
also a bit self-assured, not afraid to speak her mind, and can hold her own
with some of the more flirtatious male officers with her no-nonsense demeanor.
Roberts has a lot of common sense and is capable of doing the jobs of both
policing and firefighting, as she has demonstrated over the past six months.
She graduated with a baccalaureate degree in criminal justice from the state
university. Although she was offered jobs with other substantially larger
departments, she elected to take the job with Astonville. The cross-training in
police and firefighting is what attracted her to the department.
Problem
Roberts was assigned to a field training
officer (FTO) for her six-month probationary period. Sergeant Williams,
Roberts’ supervisor, assigned her to FTO Andrew Tibbetts. Sergeant Williams had
some doubts about assigning Roberts to Tibbetts. After all, Roberts was an
attractive young woman and Tibbetts, although married with two children, is
considered to be something of a “ladies man.” Tibbetts is jokingly known as
“Adonis” by other officers because of his extreme neatness and concern for his
physical appearance. However, Roberts seemed to be able to handle these types
of men and Tibbetts was the best FTO.
Roberts completed her field training and
probationary period with high evaluations from both FTO Tibbetts and Sergeant
Williams. And while Roberts is now on her own as a regular member of the shift,
she still relies heavily on Tibbetts for advice and backup. Sergeant Williams
also noticed a more than friendly “bond” between the two and has overheard
other officers comment about seeing Tibbetts and Roberts kissing in the police
parking garage on occasion. In fact, Sergeant Williams found the two having a
heated argument in the parking garage last week. When the sergeant intervened
to find out what was wrong, the two parted simply saying “nothing’s wrong.” The
sergeant assumed it was a “lover’s spat” and decided it was none of his
business so long as they both did their jobs.
The next day after roll call, Roberts stopped
Sergeant Williams, asking to meet with him. The sergeant escorted Roberts to
the supervisor’s office and asked her to sit down. Roberts refused to sit but
wanted to explain what the argument was about in the parking garage between her
and Tibbetts. “Sergeant, I want you to know first. I’m pregnant. The baby
belongs to Tibbetts. He won’t leave his wife and won’t have anything to do with
me now.” “Oh, Jane, I’m sorry to hear about that. But you know our policy about
pregnancy. You’ll have to take a leave of absence and…” “Damn your policies,”
Jane interrupts. “This happened because of you. It’s your fault. You put me
with that ladies’ hound for over six months. You knew what kind of man he was
and how vulnerable I was. You didn’t supervise us at all, just turned us loose.
And to top it off, I got pregnant on duty. I talked with a lawyer friend of
mine last night, and she said I could claim workers’ compensation since my
condition occurred on duty, right under your nose.”
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